Errr well it sounded easy enough lol?

[BTK]

Update---> Had succsess following the steps below

as i understand it...............
Im thinking I can just extract "tar gee zees" and write the content into the chroot folder and they will be cooked into the iso (flash for example)

im also going to try adding non kali repositorys / packages & tweeking themes

ill let you know how I get on

This produced a "binary.hybrid.iso" in the folder /root/live-build-config

was having problems with an iso not apearing after lengthy downloads.
It may have been that I wasnt attempting ithe live build from a clean kali install

X64 with kde desktop and a few packages added to the bottem of the config
was able to run in live and install (inc encryption)
all the packages had appeard in the menu with the exeption of wicd (I had to connect to the internet using the wicd widget)

Installed Kali in Virtualbox (inc guest additions)

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

apt-get install git live-build cdebootstrap kali-archive-keyring
git clone git://git.kali.org/live-build-config.git

cd live-build-config
gedit config/package-lists/kali.list.chroot

/etc/init.d/apt-cacher-ng start
export http_proxy=http://localhost:3142/

lb config --architecture amd64
lb build

Caching's important to me because I want to keep firing out iso's testing them and tweaking them

This is what my config/package-lists/kali.list.chroot looks like....

# kali meta-package depends on everything we want
kali-linux-full
kali-root-login
kali-defaults
kali-menu
kali-debtags
kali-archive-keyring
debian-installer-launcher

# provide l10n for everybody
locales-all

# Updates tools which have yet to be added to kali-linux meta
lbd
arachni
bully
uniscan
automater

# some tools that we always want
apache2
atftpd
bluez
bluez-hcidump
#if ARCHITECTURES armel armhf
#cgpt
#endif
clang
cowsay
cryptsetup
desktop-base
ethtool
expect
#if ARCHITECTURES i386 amd64
firmware-b43legacy-installer 
firmware-b43-installer
#endif
gdb
git
gparted
#if ARCHITECTURES i386 amd64
guymager
#endif
iw
leafpad
lvm2
mysql-server
ncurses-hexedit
openvpn
p7zip-full
parted
php5
php5-mysql
python-impacket
python-impacket-doc
paros
radare2
rdesktop
screen
sendemail
snmp
snmpd
suckless-tools
sudo
tcpdump
tftp
tightvncserver
tmux
unrar
upx-ucl
#if ARCHITECTURES armel armhf
#vboot-utils
#vboot-kernel-utils
#endif
vim
vim-gtk
xpdf
xtightvncviewer
zenmap

# Graphical desktops depending on the architecture
#
# You can replace all the remaining lines with a list of the
# packages required to install your preferred graphical desktop
# or you can just comment everything except the package of your
# preferred desktop.

#if ARCHITECTURES i386 amd64
# *** KDE DESKTOP ***
kali-defaults
kali-root-login
desktop-base
kde-plasma-desktop
kdm
wicd
wicd-kde
kmix
kcalc
ktorrent
krusader
gedit
bleachbit
software-center
#endif

My goal is to have a Kali-KDE-64.iso with the desktop set-up the way I like it and a few extra packages cooked in.
Mainly virtual box so I can boot kali and load a windows 7 VDI from another partition on a usb stick (the same VDI I use with portable virtual box)
When running a live iso.. wireless devices are automatically detected and confgured
but I find that if I install kali to usb and try to use it on another computer the ability is lost.
So a custom iso is just what I need

[shaberu]

The iso file will be in live-build-config folder as binary-hybrid.iso

[makros]

My goal is to have a Kali-KDE-64.iso

Have you already made the new ISO? Is there the "Kali Linux" menu item in your main menu?
I've built an ISO with Mate but the "Kali Linux" menu item has gone. All its items are in "Other" now.
It's so inconvenient. Why does nobody warn about this issue?
I've even tried installing Cinnamon in ordinary nonmodified Gnome3 environment. There is the same trouble.

[BTK]

heres an update:

I started from scratch and did everything exactly as above the only difference is I didn't install loads of programs before I attempted a live build.

the iso has appeared exactly were it should be. so im about to test it (live and install) and ill let you know how i get on.

as soon as it finished I cloned the vm. so now I have one that works and one I can mess with.

[makros]

Thx!
It seems my troubles are due to Cinnamon and Mate don`t have enough levels of nested menus.
So even when I've made the Kali Linux menu appear its items are not structured and just ordered alphabetically.